NAGA2000| It all started in August 2015 at the Federal University of Itajubá (UNIFEI), as a student research project. What began as an academic experiment scaled fast: right after its first appearance at the IMAV competition, the team established itself as Latin America's first autonomous drone team — a milestone that put it on the radar of universities, companies, and researchers working in aerial robotics.
Black Bee Drones was never just about competing. The team is committed to developing new drone technologies with real impact in Brazil, sharing that knowledge beyond the lab, and training skilled talent in a field still scarce in the country. That means designing every aircraft from scratch — from the physical airframe to the code that lets it fly, see, and decide on its own.
Behind every drone are four teams working together. Management handles planning, documentation, finances, and external communications. Hardware builds the circuits and embedded systems that bring the aircraft to life. Mechanics designs and manufactures the physical structure, using 3D modeling and in-house production. And software turns all of it into real autonomy, applying robotics, computer vision, and artificial intelligence so the drone can recognize patterns, respond to visual stimuli, and fly entirely on its own.
That work has earned the team five appearances at IMAV, held in Germany, China, France, Australia, and Spain, along with a presence at tech events like DroneShow and Campus Party. Today, Black Bee Drones is regarded as a benchmark for intelligent drones in Brazil, extending that knowledge beyond the university through consulting, workshops, and partnerships such as SAE Brasil's Formula Drone program.
More than a decade after that first project, Black Bee Drones keeps moving forward: new generations of students join the team, new drones get designed every cycle, and each new IMAV challenge pushes the group to innovate further. The team stays open to students eager to learn by doing, companies looking for technology partnerships, and institutions interested in carrying this knowledge further — because Brazil's next relevant autonomous drone could easily come from right here.